I'm impressed by Applegate. She gives good notes, and she's got a great eye.

#1 -- cute
#2 -- OMG smoking hot routine.
#3 -- this cha cha is NOT GOOD. Very disappointing.
(If you can't see why, pull up Janette and Brandon's "Hush Hush" cha cha on YouTube to see the difference.)
#4 -- no notes, I forgot their routine already. Sorry, Cole fans.
#5 -- sort of fun at the time, forgettable
#6 -- this salsa is bad bad bad bad. Really surprised they didn't come to grief on the pot-stirrer and several of the other moves.
#7 -- yeah, it's Stacey Tookey, and they danced it pretty well -- however my personal favorite was
#8 -- Loved the mix of Toxic they used, with the music-box. Yeah, NappyTabs played to the strengths of the dancers they had. You got a problem with that? I don't, if they're going to get results like this.

For the solos -- I liked Eliana's solo way better than Amber's solo. Darean pulled out the fireworks, but I thought Brandon's solo was actually better constructed and more entertaining.

It really sucks that Amber and Brandon danced a fabulous number and then got cut.

The best number on the show, by far: the Alvin Ailey group number. I hope all the guys were taking notes!

And compared to the online voting for DwtS, the online voting for SYTYCD sucks.

My current favorite is Eliana. Her performance tonight was just sick. I can't see any of the other ballerinas who have been on the show before being able to put in a performance like she did tonight. Plus, she's just adorable. So she has won me over bigtime.

Although I still like Amelia, I'm liking Eliana more and more as well. I want to see what else she can do. Janelle is really starting to annoy me.

I'm liking Cyrus less. He's got a great personality, but he's just not that good of a dancer. I think Brandon is better for their non-trained dancer spot. Oh well. George is a great dancer, but I don't get much feel for his personality. Will has a great personality. I like Cole, but want to see him do more stuff.

I loved the two NappyTabs dances last night. The Amber & Brandon number was fantastic.

What a coincidence - not only did both of the eliminated dancers just happen to be in the same couple again, but it was the only couple (so far) this season that was formed from the survivors from two other eliminations. In other words, the six eliminations "just happen to be" three couples - and didn't they manage to do this for the first four weeks last year as well?

I'm really surprised that Cyrus wasn't in the bottom three after last week, and more importantly, that his partner *was*. I mean, Cyrus was just brutally bad last week. Eliana did indeed do a great job with that NappyTabs routine at the end, figured after that the odds of her going home were pretty slim. (I don't think they would have sent Cyrus home if he had been in the bottom anyways, especially after what I thought was probably the best routine of the night, but he still should have been there).

That cover of wild horses that was used for the one routine should be buried and never played again.

Okay, here's a problem. I don't know if these shows are subject to the kinds of rules that were made about game shows, to prevent them from being rigged. But whatever happens, what can we audience members do about it? We're kind of screwed. They could reveal the actual voting numbers, but we still have to take them on trust that the numbers they give us are the actual numbers. And the whole thing about who draws what routine -- even when that was on camera, there's no guarantee the outcome wasn't pre-determined.

It's in their best interest to keep the performers who actually are someone's favorite dancers, because that means the most people are watching the show, right?

If the entire thing is scripted from top to bottom, and the producers already know which dancers are going to win, then that sucks for the dancers.

But as audience members, we have to remember that the #1 principle going on here is to put on a good show. They want people to watch, and they want people to buy tickets for the tour. They can't do that if they consistently hold up dancers that people don't want to watch.

The question I have is this -- if the show was like Project Runway, where the judges judge, and we watch, and there's no audience involvement, would fewer people watch? The producers must think so, or they wouldn't go through the whole "vote for your favorite" thing.

Okay, here's a problem. I don't know if these shows are subject to the kinds of rules that were made about game shows, to prevent them from being rigged. But whatever happens, what can we audience members do about it? We're kind of screwed. They could reveal the actual voting numbers, but we still have to take them on trust that the numbers they give us are the actual numbers. And the whole thing about who draws what routine -- even when that was on camera, there's no guarantee the outcome wasn't pre-determined.

It's in their best interest to keep the performers who actually are someone's favorite dancers, because that means the most people are watching the show, right?

If the entire thing is scripted from top to bottom, and the producers already know which dancers are going to win, then that sucks for the dancers.

But as audience members, we have to remember that the #1 principle going on here is to put on a good show. They want people to watch, and they want people to buy tickets for the tour. They can't do that if they consistently hold up dancers that people don't want to watch.

The question I have is this -- if the show was like Project Runway, where the judges judge, and we watch, and there's no audience involvement, would fewer people watch? The producers must think so, or they wouldn't go through the whole "vote for your favorite" thing.

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I agree with everything you've said here. I've often wondered if they have or would ignore the votes when presenting the bottom dancers.

I think having the audience vote gets people more engaged with the show. I find it more interesting that I get to vote for my favorites.

Finally got around to watching this episode and none of the numbers blew me away.
I think that I am very easily influenced by the music and there was not one piece of music in the entire show that I enjoyed and a couple that I hated. That Beethoven mashup was ghastly.

I hope it is not reality show fatigue as I really used to enjoy this show, but so far this season just isn't gettin' it for me.

I think that I am very easily influenced by the music and there was not one piece of music in the entire show that I enjoyed and a couple that I hated. That Beethoven mashup was ghastly.

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You aren't alone. If I either hate the music, or love the music, the dancers have it doubly hard. For the latter case, if I love the music, and hate what the choreographer has done with it, the dancers are screwed.

The Beethoven salsa was horrible -- I don't know if any couple could have sold that music to me. On the other hand, their dancing was awful, too, and I don't know if having real salsa music would have saved it. And the cha-cha was not much better.

I did like the mix of "Toxic" that Cyrus and Eliana danced to, but I had already been softened up because I knew "Toxic" from DwtS.

I know for sure that the choreography is not as much fun as it used to be. The judges make a lot of noise about how wonderful the choreographers are and what Emmy nominations everybody has, but if the pieces don't speak to me, an Emmy nomination won't make them any better.